WASHINGTON/CARACAS (Reuters) -Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, who says he won a July presidential election and is recognized by multiple countries as president-elect, said on Monday he had a fruitful meeting with U.

Edmundo González Urrutia is trying to bolster international support before Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro is sworn in Friday.

President Biden’s 30-minute meeting in the White House Monday with Venezuela’s opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia sent a powerful message to Venezuelans at home and the international community just days before a critical juncture in the South American country’s struggle for democracy.

One of Joe Biden’s final acts on immigration was to extend four grants of Temporary Protected Status – covering nearly one million immigrants from Venezuela, El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan – through to 2026.

President Joe Biden's administration on Friday renewed deportation relief that currently covers 900,000 immigrants from Venezuela, El Salvador, Ukraine and Sudan, a move that would delay any attempts by President-elect Donald Trump to sunset those protections.

When Donald Trump takes control of the White House on Monday, he will inherit something his voters hardly would have expected during a long campaign of berating outgoing President Joe Biden on immigration: a U.S.-Mexico border with the lowest number of illegal crossings in five years.

Venezuela's oil production is rebounding as tanker ships return to its coast, yet Maduro's recent election is criticized for lack of fairness.

US President Joe Biden has called the exiled candidate for Venezuela's opposition, Edmundo González, "the true winner" of the country's presidential election last July after meeting him at the White House. In a post on social media, Biden said Venezuela deserved a "peaceful transfer of power".

Venezuela's government on Monday lashed out at US President Joe Biden for hosting exiled opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia for talks on the eve of President Nicolas Maduro's inauguration for a contested third term.

President Joe Biden's administration has extended by 18 months the temporary protected status for migrants from El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela due to "extraordinary and temporary conditions" in those nations.

President Joe Biden’s last days in the White House were packed with a series of policy decisions aimed at cementing his legacy and, in some cases, blocking President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda.

Nevertheless, the timing of the pardons and the people he specifically chose reeks of dishonesty and corruption. It was a manipulative tactic made possible by an unethical politician exploiting a political loophole to carry out political agendas and favors.